BMIR Webinar: Hidden in Plain Sight — Reconsidering the Use of Race Correction in Clinical Algorithms - David S. Jones, MD, PhD

Zoom

Stanford Center for Biomedical Informatics Research 

 RESEARCH COLLOQUIUM 

“Hidden in Plain Sight — Reconsidering the Use of Race Correction in Clinical Algorithms” 

David S. Jones, MD, PhD
Harvard College Professor
A. Bernard Ackerman Professor of the Culture of Medicine
Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the Faculty of Medicine 

Professor of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Harvard University 

Thursday September 17, 2020 12:00 to 1:00 pm

BMIR WEBINAR
Live Stream : https://stanford.zoom.us/j/760491980
Webinar Passcode: 403428 
 

Abstract: 
Physicians continue to debate the meanings and roles of race and racism in medicine. While advances in genomics challenge the idea that race is a reliable proxy for genetic difference, simplistic notions of race have become embedded within medical practice. One of the subtlest insertions of race comes through diagnostic algorithms and practice guidelines that adjust or “correct” their outputs based on a patient’s race and/or ethnicity. Physicians then use these algorithms to individualize patient risk and guide clinical decisions. By embedding race into the basic data and decisions of health care, these algorithms propagate race-based medicine. Concerningly, many of these race-adjusted algorithms guide decisions in ways that may direct more attention or resources to white patients. We discuss the use and questionable rationale of these tools and suggest three guidelines for determining whether their continued use can be justified. Critical reconsideration of the use of race is an essential step in making medicine a more antiracist field. We must ensure that our clinical practices do not perpetuate the very inequities we aim to repair.